"...it's a very set-oriented, classical but at the same time modern take on the ghost story," said del Toro, who co-wrote the screenplay with Matthew Robbins and Lucinda Coxon..

"It will allow me to play with the conventions of the genre I know and love, and at the same time subvert the old rules...I've always tried to make big-sized horror movies like the ones I grew up watching. Films like 'The Omen', 'The Exorcist' and 'The Shining'...

"I loved the way that Kubrick had such control over the big sets he used, and how much big production value there was. I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets.